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Thousands applied, two city students made it

Taylor Bertelink/The Intelligencer

Monday, July 17, 2017
4:22:50 EDT PM

Taylor Bertelink/The Intelligencer
Fraser Moodey and Sruthi Amalan stand next to a SHAD Speaks podium at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay on July 14. The students receive lectures in areas such as, kinesiology, natural resources, marketing and much more during their time at camp.

This year thousands of high school students applied to attend SHAD, a summer enrichment program, in hopes of being the lucky few selected to attend to the competitive program.

Out of the final 800 selected, two Belleville students were among them.

Sruthi Amalan, Moira Secondary School student, and Fraser Moodey, a student at Albert College, left Belleville to attend the month-long camp that runs from July 2 to July 28 at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

“The idea behind the program is to help really well-rounded students who show a lot of potential, see, realize and utilize that potential. We bring together students from all over the country to participate in SHAD which is hosted by 13 different university campuses across Canada — Lakehead being one of 13,” said Teddy Katz, vice president, communications and media relations for SHAD.

According to Katz, SHAD is a not-for-profit organization based out of Waterloo that started in 1980 as an enrichment program for students grade 10 to 12. The camp is geared towards students interested in science, technology, engineering, arts and math and allows students to work with different university faculty and different visionary leaders in a variety of communities where the programs are held.

Amalan describes the moment she found out she was accepted as, “overwhelming,” in a phone interview.

She is currently at the camp with Moodey and 65 other youths at Lakehead University. “It’s actually amazing because you don’t often encounter this many students in one place with the same kind of mentality and academic background as you.”

As part of the program, students are divided into teams and are given the task to invent a product that can solve a real world issue based on the SHAD theme. This year’s theme evolves around reducing energy footprints.

“The difficulty with the process is you can’t invent a device that has already been made because at the end of the projects you actually get to brand it afterwards. We are going through a real-life business environment and that’s what makes it so challenging,” said Amalan.

“I find it really cool that every single person has a unique set of skills. So when we are brainstorming ideas as a group there is an endless stream of ideas and creativity from people,” she said.

Amalan says she is unsure about what she will pursue to study in postsecondary education, but hopes to gain better perspective after attending SHAD.

“I’ve narrowed it down to international development or working in natural resources — One of the reasons I chose to do this camp was to get a better idea of what I want to do in the future,” she said.

“It’s not something that everyone gets to experience. You get to talk to real professors and they’re the ones instructing you and guiding you, so you really get a feel for university life before you go. It’s tiring but it’s so worth it,” said Amalan.

The students are described by Katz as being very passionate about how they can make a difference in their communities, in Canada and in the world. “These youths are going to be the future leaders for Canada for decades to come,” he said.

According to the SHAD website, there are 15,500 SHAD alumni, including 32 Rhodes Scholars, Top 40 Under 40 and Top 20 Under 20 award recipients and many other accomplished professionals who have experienced SHAD programming.

“We are trying to make sure that every school knows about this and are trying to get into schools that are in remote rural areas to make sure everyone has a chance to learn about the program and apply,” said Katz adding, “bursaries are available for students who require financial assistance.”

Online applications will be opening again the end of this summer, early fall for SHAD, 2018.

“If you are applying, you will be exposed to a different part of Canada, exposed to other like-minded students, to top university faculty, and to a one of a kind hands-on experiential learning experience,” said Katz.

For more information on SHAD and how to apply visit, http://www.shad.ca